§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the reply, Official Report, 10 November, c. 156–57, why 132 Argentine military personnel are allowed to remain in British Antarctic Territory; and if he will make arrangements for their return to the Argentine until such time as that country agrees that hostilities between the United Kingdom and the Argentine have ended.
§ Mr. OnslowRelations between the British and Argentine Governments in the Antarctic are pursued in accordance with the Antarctic treaty of which article I paragraph 2 reads
The present Treaty shall not prevent the use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purpose.We have no evidence that the Argentine military personnel to which my hon. Friend refers are there for other than peaceful purposes and, therefore, it would be contrary to the Antarctic treaty for us to remove them.